Is blogging dead? Lots of people will tell you that it is. Those people don’t know what they’re talking about. Blogging is a money-making business tool that you want to start implementing immediately if you haven’t already! I’m talking SEO, monetization, customer loyalty…. but I’m getting ahead of myself. Hopefully, these points will help convince you.

1. Blogs help develop thought leadership.

Blogging is a great way to get what you know about your industry and niche out in the world. It’s a chance to educate your peers and clients, share your own point of view, and build credibility in your space. It’s also a way to work on exploring your opinions yourself as you build up credibility in your space. You can take the content you create for your blogs and use them across social channels and repost your articles on LinkedIn. This all contributes to the presence you’re working to build for yourself online.

2. Blogs support your website SEO.

SEO is all about keywords and links, and blogs are a perfect place to execute on those exact items! Keywords are your way of telling Google what your content is that and also your way of matching your content with relevant search terms. You want to do some research to think about the search turns you want to rank for and how your target audience is using those terms in their Google searches. You want to shoot for longtail keywords over short tail, which you’ll have a better chance of ranking for. For example, “freelance muralist for homes” is a much better keyword set than “muralist.” Blogs also give you a place to do some link building. You want to build up a good mix of internal links, and also include external links that validate what you’re writing. Better yet, try to get outside sources to link to your blog content. If you can get a very credible source to link to your post this will win you a lot of SEO Favor with Google!

3. Blogs are a way of owning your space online.

Investing in your own blog and creating valuable content that is owned by you, and not social media platforms is a great way of getting stake in space online that you own. While it is important to be working hard to put out quality content on our social channels, this should be for the purpose of driving traffic to your own website and content. Your most valuable and time-intensive work should live in a space that you control — remember what happened to myspace!

4. Blogs open you up for better affiliate and brand opportunities.

If you are looking to make a living solely as a blogger or thought leader, your blog is a place for you to create sponsored posts for brands, which can be a very lucrative source of income. While these brand deals can also take place on social media, having your own platform to include in the deal helps you to drive a higher price point when negotiating the terms of your partnership.

5. Blogs are an extension of your brand experience.

Your blog is another way of extending your brand experience to your audience. This is another place for them to be served by you, get to know you, and hear more of your voice. The more opportunities you give people to interact with you, the more likely they are to trust you and become paying customers later down the road.

6. Blogs are prime for email list building.

As Amy Porterfield says, the strength of your business is directly tied to the strength of your email list. Blog posts are a great way to get a lead magnet in front of your audience and encourage them to sign up with you. This is an ideal environment because if you can write a blog post that someone finds helpful and interesting, they have a really good chance of signing up for your email list and downloading your freebie. This is one of the biggest benefits of having a blog in my opinion! So there you have it! Hopefully, this post has convinced you that blogging isn’t dead and helped to light a fire in you to get writing!